Time for FBA Members to ‘Roll Up Sleeves and Get to Work! State Transportation Leaders Expedite More Than $285 Million in SB 1 Road Repairs

BY: Phil Vermeulen, Legislative Advocate- October 1, 2017

As I reported back in mid-July, the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) and the Department of Transportation (Caltrans) announced the fast tracking of “fix it first” construction work and increased road repairs across the state. Caltrans is able to jumpstart these road repairs thanks to the passage of the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 (Senate Bill 1), which was signed by the governor back on April 30th, 2017.

The first projects ‘out of the chutes,’ were 13 pavement projects across the state that began in August. Besides these projects, Caltrans has expedited the design of an additional 50 projects, which will also begin construction this fiscal year (which ends next June 30th).

Arbitrate or Litigate? The Four C’s May Help You Chooses

BY: Phil Vermeulen, Legislative Advocate- December 27, 2017

Smith Currie & Hancock
Given a choice, which is the better way to resolve a construction dispute: arbitration or litigation? For many years, arbitration was the default choice of owners and contractors. This preference was reflected in the widely-used standard-form construction contracts, which all specified arbitration as the sole means of dispute resolution. Recently, however, arbitration has begun to fall out of favor, and standard-form contracts have recognized this industry change in attitude. The ConsensusDocs, AIA, and EJCDC standard-form contracts now require their users to make a choice between arbitration and litigation. How are owners and contractors to choose between arbitration and litigation at the outset of a project? Four key factors to consider are cost, competency/complexity, and conclusiveness—the four C’s.